US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday, January 20, delaying the 75-day ban on popular short video app TikTok, which was previously scheduled to close on January 19.
When signing the order, Trump suggested that the US government owns half of TikTok's business holdings in the US in exchange for maintaining the sustainability of the app, and threatened to impose tariffs on China if Beijing does not approve of a TikTok-related deal.
This executive order is the closing of 48 hours of legal maneuvers and political intrigue that make millions of TikTok users in the US wonder about the fate of their apps.
Drama began on Saturday January 18 when TikTok, used by 170 million US citizens, was disabled hours before the law requiring ByteDance's sale of apps for national security reasons took effect on Sunday.
The following day, Trump announced plans to "come on TikTok." Hours later, the company began restoring its services in the US, while thanking the newly-inducted President for his guarantee to TikTok and its business partners that they would not face a big fine to keep the app running.
However, TikTok is not yet available for download at Apple and Google app stores.
Trump signed an executive order on Monday evening directing the Attorney General not to enforce the law during the delay period, in order to give time to determine the right actions regarding TikTok.
However, the legal validity of this order is questionable. The law requiring TikTok's divestment to be ratified with a large majority in Congress, signed by President Joe Biden, and supported by the Supreme Court unanimously.
Frank Pallone's representative alleges that Trump "avoids national security laws passed by a large bipartisan majority in Congress."
The debate over TikTok comes amid tense US-China relations. Trump signaled plans to charge China a tariff, but also hopes to be in direct contact with Chinese leaders.
When signing an executive order, Trump said the US government could own 50% of shares on TikTok and could monitor the site. However, he added that if the deal was not approved by China, "there would be no value."
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The US has never banned major social media platforms before, and the law passed last year gave the Trump administration the broad authority to ban or seek the sale of other Chinese-owned applications.
Trump also praised TikTok for helping to win young voters in the 2024 presidential election.
Responding to TikTok's recovery and Trump's desire to reach an agreement, China's Foreign Ministry said the company should "decouple independently" their operations and deals.
However, it remains unclear whether Trump's orders are enough to convince Apple and Google to return the app to their stores in the US.
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